Trump reportedly asks world leaders to call him directly on his cellphone

(Image credit: Getty Images)

last updated 31 May 2017

President Trump wants to cut out the middle man — in this case, the White House operator — and have world leaders call him directly on his cellphone, several former and current U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

He's already told Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto to give him a ring on his cell, breaking protocol and raising the concerns of security experts who say a cellphone, even one issued by the government, could easily be tapped by a foreign government. Officials told AP that Trudeau has taken Trump up on his offer and called his cellphone, but Nieto has not. A French official said that when he called French President Emmanuel Macron to congratulate him on his victory, he gave Macron his cell number, but the official would not say if Macron plans on ever calling it.

"If you are Macron or the leader of any country and you get the cellphone number of the president of the United States, it's reasonable to assume that they'd hand it right over to their intel service," Ashley Deeks, a University of Virginia law professor and former assistant legal adviser for political-military affairs at the State Department, told AP. The White House did not respond to requests for comment.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox